Syrian Army kill 4 at start of Eid

Syrian forces shot dead at least four civilians on Sunday in a continued military assault on the central city of Homs and in an attack on pro-democracy demonstrations that erupted after prayers marking the main Muslim feast, an activist group said.

Qatar's prime minister called for Arab states to meet next Saturday to weigh Syria's failure to implement a deal struck with the Arab League to end bloodshed that was touched off by the popular uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

The organisation said in a statement that at least 10 protesters were also injured in the town of Talbisah near Homs and in Harra in the southern Hauran Plain.

Fifty protesters were arrested after a demonstration in the Damascus district of Kfrar Souseh. Troops deployed in several Damascus suburbs, surrounding mosques to prevent crowds from rallying after the early morning prayers for the feast of Eid al-Adha, it said.

The official Syrian news agency SANA said Assad went to the eastern provincial capital of Raqqa on Sunday where he joined Eid prayers with "a number of notables and popular, union and party organizations and a crowd of Raqqa citizens."

"The stand Syrians are making against terrorism and outside intervention is the basis for Syria's steadfastness... We have no choice except winning any battle that targets our sovereignty,"